What Photography Education Should You Be Investing In?
In today’s climate photographers are becoming educators left right and centre and it’s becoming harder to identify who is offering education from the heart with a genuine care and wish to see you succeed and who is just finding ways to gain more income with minimal effort.
There are SO MANY different forms of education for photographers from Mentorship Sessions, Content Days, Styled Shoots, Workshops, Guides and more.
In this blog post I’m going to highlight some of the things I feel are important to look out for when choosing to invest in your business. I’ll also leave my recommendations for other educators who I have personally felt a huge impact from within my business.
What to look for in a Mentorship Session
When looking for a photographer to have a zoom mentorship with, a key indication to their investment into you will be the pricing. Whilst it’s easy to think it’s just a quick call for a couple of hours that should be a couple of hundred pounds - it’s so much more than that - for us anyway it’s a deep delve into your business from an outsiders perspective. We’re looking into how your business appears to prospective clients and focusing on ways we can offer our assistance to help you better those aspects. It’s hours and hours of research, emails, reflecting on your questionnaire answers and studying your brand so that we know how to serve you in the absolute best way possible. Not to mention that we’re blocking our diary to dedicate the whole day to focussing on you outside of the call too.
It’s important to also check the topics they’re able to offer helpful insight into. For example if you’re wanting to have a deep dive into the posing of newborns in a newborn session going to an Elopement photographer isn’t going to be helpful. You need to be finding someone who really and truly excels in what it is you’re wanting to learn. We will never accept a mentorship session if we feel we aren’t the best to educate you on XYZ.
For in-person mentorship sessions I think it is hugely important to know that the type of session you’re investing in is something the photographer actively does. We’ve started seeing a lot of photographers from all over the world start offering Styled Elopements as part of their mentorship sessions when the photographer has very little experience in photographing Elopements and then all hell breaks loose in Facebook groups where mentees (rightfully so) feel they’ve been taken advantage of. This is honestly devastating (and the same goes for workshops). So when it comes to in-person mentorship sessions I think its important to know the following:
Is the educator actively shooting and extremely skilled in the genre of session you’ll be doing together.
What is the cost like? If it’s under £1000 it is likely to be too good to be true (My first one I charged at £800 and I invested around 40 hours of work into this, I payed my models £200, payed my taxes, payed fuel and then by the end of it my hourly wage ended up being £0.94 an hour. We now charge £2000 which works out at us earning £21.75 between us an hour. (so £10.87 each))
Are those involved being paid? It is so important to make sure those that are ‘working’ on the day are being paid. Whilst its easy nowadays to pay models with photos - that is a) not ethical when the photographer is being paid - it becomes exploitative and b) it’s irresponsible from the photographer to not pay models & have a signed contract with them as they could pull out at any time without that and leave you as the mentee stranded without what YOU payed for.
Knowing the difference between a Content Day & A Workshop
There’s tons of styled shoots, content days and workshops floating around so it’s important to know what you’re looking for so as to not get disappointed.
Content Days:
Content days are usually days that are set up with the sole purpose of the photographers attending to walk away with a bunch of images they can use for their website / social media, these days often run in a more static ‘get the shot’ kind of way rather than telling the story of the day. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this if that is what you’re looking for. These days are often short term wins.
Pros of Content Days:
They’re often cheaper and more affordable to photographers in their early days.
They’re a great way to get out & work within a group setting.
They’re great for getting ideas on prompting & posing.
Cons of Content Days:
The models are usually highly experienced in front of the camera and therefore do not accurately represent what working with clients is actually like. A lot of prompts / poses won’t translate well into your way of working.
It can be extremely off putting to clients as they’ll know this isn’t an accurate representation of your work.
Workshops:
Workshops can come in many forms but for this section I’ll be referring to workshops as being an in person event with a practical element of shooting included. Workshops typically include an educational side where though processes are dived into and other behind the scenes aspects are covered in more depth. These then also usually include a practical element such as getting out and shooting. These are more focussed on allowing those attending to see how the lead photographer works and to allows for them to take away heaps of knowledge that they can then implement into their buisness.
Pros of Workshops:
You’re getting a much deeper dive into multiple aspects which you can take away and implement.
You get to physically see how a photographer you’re inspired by the shooting process of actually works.
You can take away prompting / posing tips.
You also get to explore your own portfolio too by photographing along side them and receiving assistance and advice from the lead photographer too.
Cons of Workshops:
Ultimately this still isn’t going to be a full reflection on how you work and could be misleading to clients.
Obviously there’s a side to all of this which is that we’re in a cost of living crisis and these high prices for genuine education is unfeasible which is totally understandable. My advice would be don’t settle for a cheaper option because thats all you can afford. Save up, wait for opportunities like group mentorship sessions (which is something we launched as the first of it’s kind in Scotland to give groups of photographers our mentorship experience at a fraction of the cost). Look into YouTube videos and prioritise educating yourself until you’re in a position where you’re able to confidently invest your money into an educator where you KNOW the experience you’ll receive will push your business far beyond where you’re at. You can also set up your own styled sessions. Think about the things it is you’re wanting to elevate within your business and shooting style and go out and have a play with it.
Styled Shoots:
Styled shoots can be anything you want them to be and you can invest as much or as little money into them as you wish - these are an INCREDIBLE way for you to learn. Here’s a couple of ideas to get you started:
You could set up a styled couples session and reach out to some friends to model in exchange for a free gallery from you, create a moodboard for the vision you’re hoping for, chat about outfits - see what they have / invest in some pieces you can then use with your future clients also. And then when you’re shooting together just have some fun, try new prompts and ideas and just play around and explore what works for YOU.
You could set up a styled elopement or wedding and reach out to some friends to model in exchange for a free gallery from you, you could reach out to some local vendors (florists, dress shops, hair & makeup) and invite them to collaborate with you.
There really are so many ways you can invest into your business. Some final thoughts before I wrap this up with my recommendations:
Prioritise quality and experience over a cheaper price tag.
Do your research - it can be hard to weed out the fraudsters but with enough research you’ll soon be able to tell.
Only invest when you are financially and mentally able to do so and in the meantime focus on ways you can elevate your business yourself.
Our recommendations for Educators we trust and think are worth investing in:
India Earl - India has a wide range of educational products that she has wholeheartedly invested her time, skills and money into. I have purchased probably almost all her education at this point. The best thing I invested from her is her pricing course and I would highly recommend everyone purchase that to learn how to ethically price yourself so you’re not working for pennies (I purchased this myself after having done that first in-person mentorship session and now I’m pricing myself at a correct hourly wage.) I also love her girls group on instagram - she has a private account for women where she shares a lot of personal things but also where she does editing zoom calls & shares lots of tips and tricks.
Dawn Jarvis (a.k.a Dawn Photo) - Dawn is an absolute blessing in the education world. She has an online education programme called basecamp which includes so many different topics and courses. I had the honour of getting to speak as part of her Fireside Chats which is her latest educational content. She took care of us girls speaking so so well, and truly poured her heart into it all - she’s so inspirational and is defiantly a trusted person to invest in education from.
Anni Graham - I love how Anni’s mind works - she’s a true creative & thoughtful soul and that is present across all her education. I’ve heard her teach at online workshops I’ve attended and the value even within those has been mind blowing.
